Thursday Afternoon Commute - Boathouse

Good afternoon

• Georgetown is once again pushing plans for a new boathouse along the Capital Crescent Trail. I know that many cyclists oppose this, but I could be convinced. For starters the trail would have to be left at least as wide as it is now, and ideally it would be slightly wider. Then, push Georgetown U a little bit by getting them to build a little trail on the trolley right of way on campus. Metro is eager to sell the Foundry Branch Bridge and the ROW on both sides of it. So here is my ask:
  • Georgetown buys the bridge and land from Metro and the money, by law, goes to improve bus service. Better transit! Hooray!
  • Georgetown, with help from DC repairs the bridge so that it can handle bike/ped traffic and builds connections from Foxhall Road to the driveway between Georgetown and Canal Road. Better bike ped connections! Hooray! Saving an historic bridge! Hooray!
  • Georgetown gives some of the excess land to NPS as part of their planned land exchange. More park land! Hooray.
  • Georgetown keeps the rest of the land, the part they've always wanted, for thier own purposes.
  • The view of the river from the trail gets a little bit worse, and there is more traffic near the trailhead. Not great, but there are no free lunches. 
  • Anyway, the agency has scheduled an open house with a brief presentation for Tuesday, Dec. 13 from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. at the Washington Harbour (3050 K Street, NW, Suite 200). 
• On the options, and hurdles, for better connecting the Mt. Vernon Trail to Arlington County. "The primary obstacle to building the long-sought bicycle and pedestrian bridge over the GWMP from what is now Long Bridge Park has been NPS opposition, not funding. The NPS has already stalled a *fully funded* environmental analysis for this crossing for nearly a decade. While the cost to build this bridge would be substantial, it should be similar to that of less-needed trail bridges, such as the one planned across Four Mile Run between S Eads St and Commonwealth Ave in Alexandria. Arlington's elected officials should press for the prompt completion of this long-delayed environmental and preliminary engineering study."
• A Virginia driver hit a cyclist, leaving him in a coma, and then left the scene, reportedly to chase down the driver who cut him off (witnesses saw no "other" car). The driver was driving on a suspended license at the time. Witneses claimed that the cyclist was riding on the shoulder. So Virginia threw the book at him - $600 in fines. He also got 90 days in jail which was suspended and got to keep his license, despite 5 points on his license before this crash. That should teach him a lesson. There is much more here. 

Comments

[Crickey7]

My issue with the boathouse is that the trailhead is barely bigger than the trail. It would very little added traffic, foot and/or vehicular, to jam it completely. My understanding of the intended uses in the last application included social gatherings as well, which one might expect in a spiffy new, expensive facility with unmatched water views.

[Michael H.]

I'm not clear why NPS would be opposed to a trail connector between MVT and Long Bridge Park. Any bike bridge that is built there would lie in between the bridges for the commercial train tracks and the MetroRail tracks. Those two bridges/tracks are barely 100 ft. apart. That's supposed to be a scenic area?

And it's not as though a bike/pedestrian bridge is going to look so terrible. It will probably have better aesthetics than the rusty train bridge.

[JeffB]

Re Boathouse:

I've always thought that Fletcher's would be a neat place for the GU boathouse and it certainly could use some upgrading.

You have plenty of room there for parking and already have road access. Though one downside is that it is a bit of a walk from campus.

[JeffB]

Re Virginia Driver:

Once again we see that the right to drive is the right to kill (or maim) with near impunity.

[Bilsko]

As for the Metro bridge in Foundry Branch and the connection to GU campus, isn't that issue of the GU loop road (connecting Resevoir & Canal road) still looming somewhere in GU's Master Plan...?

That would certainly impact any trail development between Foxhall and GU campus.

As someone who pedals down Macarthur, Foxhall, through the Foundry Branch tunnel every morning, I'm intrigued by this idea of a connector through to Georgetown...may have to figure out how to attend this Dec. 13th meeting.

As for the location of the boathouse the article says between 34th and 1200ft upriver of Key Bridge (map here: http://g.co/maps/kknp8 )
It looks like the only place for them to build is along the trail (past the Wash. Canoe club) and I can't see that being done without adding some type of vehicle access - it'll start to get pretty crowded right along the river there.

[Contrarian]

I wonder what Georgetown has in mind this go round. In the last iteration, the plan was to "trade" a worthless parcel of landlocked land for the prime riverfront site. The kicker was that the Zoning Board had ruled that the site had such poor access that it could only be used by members of Georgetown. So part of a National Park was going to be permanently appropriated for private use and closed to the public forever. It was one of those moments that makes you feel like everyone in the world has lost their mind, because otherwise sensible people were talking about this like it might be a reasonable thing. I was never able to discern any justification on Georgetown's part for this public taking other than they really, really wanted to do it. Somehow that was enough.

And of course, ideas like that never die, they just get delayed.

[washcycle]

Yeah, the piece of land Georgetown wants is very valuable. That doesn't mean I don't think they should get it, I'd just like to see them pay the right price for it.

For those new to this, here is a post I wrote on it before with a drawing of what it would look like from the trail.

http://www.thewashcycle.com/2007/12/nps-to-host-sco.html

Vehicle access would be on the trail.

[Bilsko]

I missed the part about GU having the rights to use the first mile of the CCT for vehicle access.

Provided that they only convert the first few hundred feet of the CCT into a driveway for the boathouse and install some signs to keep non-Boathouse drivers from using it as a turnaround, it could keep traffic down.

If they share parking with the Wash. Canoe Club and only make the vehicle access to the Boathouse for loading/unloading, then the impact on the trail-users could be minimized.

In order to strengthen the link between the CCT and the Foundry Branch (proposed) bridge trail, the FB tunnel could be cleaned up and landscaped.

Its still unclear to me whether or not the GU Loop road (Resevoir to Canal) is dead or still being contemplated - that would have a pretty significant impact on any proposals for a trail along Foundry Branch.

As a related aside, here's what Canal Road looked like, during the construction of the Whitehurst:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/ddotphotos/4830228499/sizes/o/in/set-72157624457000512/

[Jim Titus]

I guess the District is fairly neutral on the bloathouse? Otherwise it would condemn the inholding, which would take GU's leverage away.

[M.V. Jantzen]

Having more boathouses on the Potomac would be a good thing. Vehicles should be seen only during regattas. Philly's Schuylkill River Trail goes right past their Boathouse Row (http://flic.kr/p/U8eMp). Adding a new connection to Georgetown would be awesome.

[Purple Eagle]

I think the difference in Philly is that there is also a parallel road, which allows for easier access. One can't really use Canal Rd as an access point for this proposed location.